You can easily find Silver, Copper, Brass and Stainless Steel cleaners in stores across the country.
You should clean with soft cloths, but if it is a real dirty outdoor mailbox, you may want to use a nylon scrubbing cloth to help out. Just be careful, it makes more scratches than you think, and...
When trying to remove old, very stuck, masking tape or stickers from glass or even appliances, my favorite aid is simply vegetable oil. I soak on this great non-flammable, non-toxic oil and keep putting on more until it manages to soak into the tape and reactivate the glue. With everything soften...
An ivy covered wall
John from Mississauga, Ontario writes: "We recently bought a house that was half covered in ivy. We didn't like it and we were told to cut the roots and let the ivy die and then just tear it down from the walls. We cut the roots and let the ivy die but we noticed all these li...
This item falls under the heading of 'things that homeowners can teach their contractor'. Unfortunately too many renovators do not know that you can cause serious damage to your roof if you don't duct exhaust fans completely out of an attic. Some know, but just don't care.
You cannot just leave ...
When condensation shows up inside a thermal pane double window (between the two pieces of glass), you know that the seals around the edge have been compromised, allowing moisture to get inside. These cannot really be re-sealed so the standard response to this problem is to replace the glass ...
Bill from British Columbia sent in an e-mail asking how to remove silicone caulking from his acrylic shower floor. For many years we had nothing that would remove silicone caulking from a bathtub. Then all the companies came out with silicone caulking removers. Then they all disappeared (or will ...
HOW DO THEY WORK?
Most smoke alarms operate by allowing the smoke to get between a light source and a light sensitive target. When the light gets dim, the alarm goes off. If a spider passes in front of the light, or spins his web in front of the light, he may just set off the alarm. Vacuum ou...
Instant adhesives are generally in the family of cyanoacrylate adhesives -- although there are two basic types: those that cure by very quick evaporation of solvents, like Crazy Glue found in local hardware stores -- and those that cure by depriving the glue of oxygen, like PascoFix. The advantag...
Many people would like to filter the air in their houses in an effort to improve indoor air quality.
The most efficient of the furnace filter systems, when it is kept clean, is the electronic air cleaner. As you can see in the first photo, it is a large unit that is installed directly in the fur...
When clean, electronic air filters are the most efficient furnace filters on the market - according to research at the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. When dirty, they don't filter much at all. When in-between they can give off ozone.
If you're a lazy homeowner, they probably won't do m...
